The Old Los Angeles Family

I get asked about the Los Angeles family all the time. Every time I’m asked, I think about how the past will soon be lost forever. The men who took part in the family during its heyday are dying off.

Peter J Milano, the longtime boss who ran the family for 28 years, died in 2012 a free man.

He was an important link to the past for the family.  He not only had an uncle who was boss of the Cleveland family, but his father was also under boss for many years.  Anthony Milano, his father moved the family to Beverly Hills, California in the late 1930’s.  Pete became his own man in Los Angeles.  He worked with Mickey Cohen who had spent some time in Cleveland.

Pete was soon working with the Los Angeles family.  Hollywood and writers who have no idea what they are talking about like to portray Mickey Cohen as a boss.  The guy was a bookie that did a lot of business.  You can read Jimmy Fratianno’s book “The Last Mafioso” which is very detailed and accurate because the author used FBI 302’s to set dates and places.

Jimmy Fratianno was only the second made guy to flip, so it is a great look inside the former world.

You can learn a lot about Jack Dragna the boss and his attempts to kill Mickey Cohen.  To set the record straight, the LA Family murdered Cohen's men and friends and not one thing happened to any LA family member.  

Bugsy Siegel has become another larger than life figure.  He was no boss, he was sent out to the west coast to watch over the Trans American racing service.  Bugsy was a kind of franchisee who controlled it in California and Nevada.  He would later be gunned down in the Beverly Hills home of his girlfriend Virginia Hill.  

The fact that Mickey Cohen went to the Roosevelt hotel with pistols looking for Bugsy can tell you a lot.  Mickey was not on the inside, he was not in the know.  In recent years there has been a few books written by some who claim someone in their family killed Bugsy.  It's a fantasy, because once he was dead guys moved right into the Flamingo before it was even on the news.  The mafia would have been looking for his killer considering how much Meyer Lansky had at the time.

Jack Dragna was the boss of Los Angeles and he was not crawling for anyone.

The decline of the family began shortly after the death of Jack Dragna when Frank DeSimone became the boss.  Johnny Roselli, who had begun as an Chicago Outfit guy, was seen as the logical boss, but he was incarcerated at the time.  DeSimone held a vote within the family and he was voted in as boss.  The fact that he never got a vote from some of the capos who were locked up didn't matter.  DeSimone would be caught at the Apalachin mafia conference in upstate New York along with his underboss.  This brought a lot of heat to DeSimone’s life.  He was a lawyer who was not known to be a criminal until the arrest.

Desimone’s father, Rosario, had been the boss of Los Angeles and his nephew Tommy DeSimone would become famous as “Tommy Two Guns” in Goodfellas.

Nick Licata would be the next boss.  He was very well connected in Detroit and with the other Midwest families.  

Louie Gelfuso used to work as a bartender at Licata’s bar and he used to talk about Licata in glowing terms.

Licata owned apartment buildings and bars across Los Angeles.  Licata also was a huge bookmaker and loan shark who did business in the black neighborhoods.

Louie Gelfuso was also friendly with another man and his brothers who were a power in Los Angeles.  That man was Joe Sica and he ran his criminal empire from the San Fernando Valley.

He controlled the rackets from the Mexican border to Northern California.  He would mentor many young up and coming mafioso including “the Cheeseman” Carmen DiNunzio, acting boss of the New England family.

The stories about Joe Sica and his brothers are priceless. There are very few today that even know who he was in the Los Angeles underworld.

We are now back to Dominic Brooklier who I wrote about last week. The death of Anthony Brooklier means we will never get the story.

I wish I knew Pete Milano well enough to hear stories about the old days.

Carmen Milano was a throwback to the past.  He was a lawyer who became a gangster who was better suited for working with the big families on intricate money making schemes.  I used to see him at the deli in Las Vegas when I was with Steve Cino or Jimmy Caci.  He loved to talk about the old days in Cleveland. The sad thing is that when he died, someone from Las Vegas called me and told me that he died.  I called a Las Vegas reporter and he did not know anything about it.  I called the morgue and they asked if I knew next of kin, I gave them Pete’s name and number.

Jimmy Caci was another story. I was close to Jimmy and he knew so many guys all over it was great. One day he would tell a story of working with a guy from the Purple Gang to blow a safe, the next day a story of driving dynamite to Rochester New York during a vending machine war.  

Jimmy was close with mobsters all over the country.

The family is gone except for a few who moved away.  It is in the hands of Sicilians and the history here is lost.

For a deeper look at Los Angeles mafia history, I suggest reading Anthony Fiato’s book “The Animal in Hollywood” in order to understand the Los Angeles family after Jimmy Fratianno.

My book Breakshot will fill in a few gaps up into the 2000s.

Take Down 46

Another week in the life, and this week the FBI took down 46 guys from a number of families for various racketeering charges.  The names you will recognize, because these guys just never seem to learn.  

Jimmy Caci, who was the street boss of the Los Angeles family, told me a few months before he passed away that the life was not what it was supposed to be. It had gotten out of control and there was no honor or loyalty anymore. This was after my first book Breakshot had come out.  

So here we were, sitting at a diner and he is speaking to me.  I felt sorry for him because he was a relic from the past and his time had passed.  Jimmy was originally from Buffalo, New York and he knew the long time boss Stephan Maggadino.  He was on good terms with all the guys in the family when it was at it’s peak.  Jimmy grew up in a different time.  A time when Italians were looked down upon. Boxers used Irish names to get fights, and most policemen were Irish.  The mafia served a purpose then, but now it may be one more thing, like Sears, we do not need.

You can read more about Jimmy in Breakshot, which has been re-released.

Joey Merlino was the one time boss of the Philadelphia family.  He may still be boss, but he is in custody again. Merlino has spent more than half his life locked up. He is the son of former underboss Sal Merlino and is also nephew to soldier Lawrence Merlino, both of whom are now dead.  

Merlino has gotten away with murder but he just cannot seem to go straight.  Some guys just never get it.  

In better times Joey Merlino was out in Los Angeles with Johnny Fratto getting chased by TMZ. Merlino was out to speak about selling his life rights to a well known movie producer.  Maybe this story will go into the new Johnny Fratto book that Randazzo is working on.

The new indictment charges many of the guys with bookmaking.  They again used offshore websites, but did business here in the US under the name Costa Rican International Sportsbook. One of those charged was Daniel Marino Jr., a friend of Colombo Craig Marino and son of a Gambino heavy weight.  Many years ago Daniel was hiding out at Joe Dente's home in Los Angeles.

This time the indictment has a couple of crimes we have not witnessed in an indictment in a few years.  Healthcare fraud: where they had doctors prescribing an expensive compound and charging insurance companies.  They were also smuggling untaxed cigarettes into the New York area, where they were worth three million dollars.

They had a casino style gambling spot in Yonkers where they hosted poker and other card games.

John Lembo, a name that was well known to those around back in the stock fraud days, was busted for setting up credit card skimmers.  Lembo was a friend of Eddie Garofalo and Craig Marino.  

The FBI had an undercover agent deep inside that worked with Genovese guys and Joey Merlino.  They also had a cooperator wired up the whole time.  How many more will flip is still to be seen.  The majority of those arrested face up to 20 years, but this indictment seems to be missing the normal murders and other violence.  They are charged with assaulting a homeless man who was bothering patrons of a restaurant on Arthur Ave.  They did threaten to choke a guy out, but it does not read as bad as the others I have read.  I bet everyone pleads out for a lot less time.

One guy arrested is Ralph Balsamo, a Genovese guy.  Why he does not just run his family's funeral homes I have no idea.  I bet Balsamo has some more problems that are going to come up soon.  Stay tuned.

Breakshot Re-Release!

Breakshot Re-Release!

This week my first book Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia has been re-released.  The new version has some updated material and is also available for Kindle.  

It occurred to me when I was proofreading this version for typos, that many of those I wrote about are now dead.  The whole 1970’s Los Angeles mafia family is now gone.  

They tried hard to rebuild the family but the lack of a talent pool and the constant assault by the FBI made it an impossible task.  That part of my life is over now too, but I am thankful that I was able to sit with those men of a bygone era and hear their stories.  Soon the only record left will be those that learned from them.

The dream of having a casino on the Las Vegas strip that started with Jack Dragna and Jimmy Fratianno is dead.  Bobby Milano and Jimmy Caci wanted to have a Titanic themed casino but that died with Bobby and Paulie, the boss of the Denver family.

Jimmy Caci spent his whole life as a criminal, and yet if he gave you his word he would keep it.  If you were around Jimmy you could not swear if there were ladies present.  Jimmy had some great stories from Buffalo, New York.  One I was thinking about today. Jimmy and another guy were cutting into a safe at a clothing store when their lookout signaled to them that a cop was coming.  It was a beat cop on foot and Jimmy was in the display window.  Stores used to put their safes in the front hoping it would deter safe crackers. There was no way Jimmy could get out of the window in time so he posed like the other mannequins until the cop passed.  The cop never gave him a second glance and they soon cracked the safe and took off.  Jimmy would laugh when telling that story.

I wrote about Danny Persico in Breakshot because he was there at the time.  He has passed away and it is a shame.  He was harmless and he was a young guy.  I have no ill feelings toward him at all.  I hope when Teddy Persico gets out of prison he does something else with his life.

Some people just cannot learn from history so they keep repeating the same mistakes. Michael Mazzara, Charles Kerrigan and Anthony Mascuzzio are just those people.

They were part of a bank robbery crew that cut their way into bank vaults after bypassing the alarms.  They would break into buildings next door, or go through a roof and then cut their way into the vault.  They would then bust into safety deposit boxes, trashing sentimental items but taking cash and jewelry that totaled five million dollars at least.  A lot of people will not be reporting what was really in the boxes, so I am sure the haul was much larger.

Anthony Mascuzzio seems never to learn his lesson.  He had a father who was with John Gotti, but was shot dead trying to shake down a disco. Battista “Benny” Geritano a former of the “Night Drop Crew” is his stepbrother.  I wonder where Anthony got the idea to rob banks?  

The FBI and task force has been watching the crew. They installed a camera on a pole across from Michael Mazzara and Charles Kerrigan's home.  They also had a cooperator in the crew who gave up their cell phones.  They traced the phone near one of the banks they burgled.  It was pinged off towers within a block.  They caught them on video with the same red car that was used in the bank job pulling into a property next to theirs.  They also have video of them driving away with plywood in a truck that was later found at the bank.  They got them buying fire extinguishers and water buckets on a credit card. It should be noted that the red F-250 pickup truck is registered to a relative of Michael Mazzara.  They have video outside the banks with them and even though they wore hats and hoodies they were recognized.

The broke into Maspeth Federal savings bank in May where the haul was 296k in cash and 4.3 million out of the safety deposit boxes.

They hit the HSBC bank in Brooklyn in April and they are believed to have hit at least 8 other banks.  This is an unfolding story.  It will be interesting to see who the informant is and who goes down.

Great Friends in the Mafia

Gennaro Bruno aka Gerry was a Gambino associate who pled guilty this week to the murder of his one-time friend. That is how they murder you when you are in the life.  The movies all show these guns walking in places and blasting away, but in reality it is a friend that shoots you.

Gerry had started out in a farm team gang that was affiliated with the Gambino family. They were called the Liberty Posse or Young Guns, and they were violent.  Gerry soon graduated to the big time by becoming part of Joseph (JoJo) Corozzo’s crew when he was a capo.

Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo, JoJo’s brother, was the one time boss of the Gambino family until he was locked up.  The family was run by a panel until recently, when it was taken over by Sicilian members.

The Corozzo crew was big into gambling and shylock.  They were not above taking cash from drug dealers.  

Gerry and his crew distributed thousands of pounds of marijuana from Canada. Martin Bosshart wanted to exclude a Gambino from the business.  The Gambino family set word that he was not to do it.  Martin Bosshart cut him out so the order was handed down.  Gerry and Todd LaBarca lured him to a deserted part of Queens where they shot him in the head while he was taking a piss.

Those were friends of Martin Bosshart, could you imagine what they would do if they were enemies?

Gerry started working for a carting company and he was soon picked up for extortion.  

They were shaking down companies to haul away their waste.

Gerry had moved to Las Vegas and gotten married, but the FBI picked him up on October 28, 2014.  

He will now have to serve 21 years for the murder of Martin Bosshart.

What kind of life glorifies killing your friends for a few dollars.  A human life is worth so much more.  

The life has a way of shifting the way you think.  Good is what you believe is good and bad is what you are told is bad.  

Most people believe they are doing good at whatever they do, but their logic is twisted.

There were people I got to know in the life who I liked, and who I felt were “good.”  Los Angeles Capo Jimmy Caci was a good guy and the same with Teddy Persico.  My idea of “good” was twisted too.

Today I feel sorry for both of them.  They spent most of their lives in prison, but never learned a new way of life.

Maybe Gerry will have learned a new way by the time he gets out.  

John “Specs” Baudanza is out and I wonder if he learned?  Did Eddie Garofalo learn a thing?

Time will tell!

Colombo: The Unsolved Murder

Colombo: The Unsolved Murder

On June 28, 1971, just as Joe Colombo was about to speak in front of a large crowd gathered in support of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, he was shot three times. The man who shot him was a black man disguised as a photojournalist. He was issued press credentials by the  Italian-American Civil Rights League and in the weeks before the shooting, Jerome Johnson was trying to find camera operators to help him film Joe Colombo at the rally. There were thousands of people in the crowd at Columbus Circle that day and many saw Jerome walk up and fire two shots into Colombo’s head and one into his neck.  They watched as he was wrestled to the ground by policemen.

There were then two more shots as Jerome was shot twice in the back. He was shot twice after he was already in police custody in front of thousands of people, hundreds of police and dozens of FBI Agents.  There were TV crews there and many people with cameras -  yet not one person saw who shot Jerome.  The police recovered a small revolver at the scene.

I never read up much on the shooting, because I heard about it from a few guys in my past.  Then I saw a newspaper story on it a few weeks ago and I started to read up on it.

I came across a book Colombo: The Unsolved Murder and decided to give it a read.

I was not expecting much, but Anthony, a son of Joe Colombo, did a great job telling his father's story from his side without giving up a lot of his crimes.  I even had a good laugh when he brought up Fat Philly, who I knew and who had been around LA family street boss Jimmy Caci in Palm Springs.  He described Fat Philly perfectly.

In an age when we are aware that the government lies to us and commits criminal acts freely, we need to take a closer look at the Colombo murder.  Could the US Government take part in an assassination of an American citizen?  The time when Joe Colombo was shot was a turbulent time in America.  John F. Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman who somehow traveled to Russia with no money, lived there and then came home with a wife. Lee Harvey Oswald was then killed in custody by another lone gunman Jack Ruby who just happens to be friendly with Cosa Nostra guys and intelligence operatives.

Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down by another lone gunman who was a petty thief but somehow managed to escape prison, get to Mexico and then California where he had plastic surgery.  Travel all across the country buying cars, guns and fake IDs.  This is a man who never hit any big scores or was a high roller.  He supposedly shoots Dr. King and then flees to Canada, gets another fake ID and ends up in England.

Robert Kennedy was murdered and 13 shots were fired from an 8 shot pistol, again by another lone gunman.

The FBI used Greg Scarpa, a Colombo family killer, to find the bodies of the 3 civil rights workers.  Greg Scarpa then killed other mobsters with information provided by a Rogue FBI Agent.

There were bombings in Arizona at Joe Bonanno’s ranch and others.   The three men arrested for them claimed an FBI Agent told them to carry them out.  The FBI Agent was never prosecuted and he was able to walk away.

Whitey Bulger murdered at will with the help of the FBI.

Did Carlo Gambino set up the hit? Why would he? He didn't need to pull off a hit in public.  All he would have to do is send for Colombo and have some men waiting.  It would be easy he was head of the Commissions.

Joey Gallo and his crew are the ones who get the blame.  Why and how would Joey get Jerome to do it in public? Then get some policemen to kill Jerome to keep him quit?  Too much credit is given to Joey Gallo.

In the years since Colombo was shot and later died, dozens of men in the Colombo family have flipped and yet not one knows a thing about the shooting.  Guys in Joey Gallo’s crew and the Gambino family have flipped and nothing has surfaced about it.

There seems to be more to the Colombo shooting than is known.

Available on Amazon

You can't teach a dumb old dog new tricks.

Today I am going way back to the 1990’s in the San Fernando Valley.  I was sitting in the back office of a business known as Mid Valley Trading.  What they really traded I have no idea, but they did have a lot of stuff go through that warehouse. Mid Valley Trading was the home base of Jerry Zimmerman circa 1990’s.  Jerry Zimmerman a larger than life Jewish con man who was around the Colombo family through his friendship with Sonny Franzese.

In mafia circles Sonny Franzese is very well respected, young guys call him “The Rock.”  He is much more respected than John Gotti to those involved in the life.

So here I am, sitting at Jerry's desk when the phone rings, and it's a collect call from a federal institution.  It is Sonny Franzese, and he is looking for Jerry, but Jerry has gone out and left me manning the phones.  Sonny asks me to write down a name and he tells me this guy will be calling Jerry tomorrow.  I wrote the name on a desk blotter calendar and when Jerry came back I told him.  He rolled his eyes because every guy Sonny sent turned out to be some loser.  While I was sitting there the guy called and Jerry made an appointment to see him the next day.

The next day came and the guy showed up, and when he did I left.  I didn't like this guy the first minute I set eyes on him.  One thing, and it may be nothing to some people, but to me it set off alarms.  He wore blue jeans that were pressed with a crease in the front.  Who does that?

I went with him on a collection once, and I pushed in the door when the guy answered it.  This guy just yelled with his tough voice after I went inside.  I didn't like him and I tried to keep my distance.  

He tried to con me out of a grand, but I got him back by reversing it on him.  He made threats but couldn't do a thing.  He called a friend in Florida in Sonny’s crew, and cried to him over it.  The guy in turn asked me not to bust his head open.

Later he was present when we received the counterfeit traveler's checks that helped the FBI put together Operation Thin Crust in Las Vegas.

A week later he suckered Jimmy Caci into taking a ride with him.  He went inside an office and threatened a guy who cracked him in the head with a tape dispenser.  The guy was getting a pistol when Jimmy stopped him.  This loser had to be carried out by a 70 year old man with his head gushing blood.  

Unknown to Jimmy or any of us, the loser had been busted for first stealing some pirate cable boxes from a police evidence warehouse and then agreeing to sell them to federal agents in New Jersey.  He had flipped and began giving information to the FBI.  He went to Frankie's on Melrose and wore a wire on Joe Dente Sr., a Capo in the Genovese family who was a huge shylock.  Joe wanted nothing to do with him and told Jimmy Caci. Jimmy told this guy to stay away from him.

One night we all went to Frankie's on Melrose for dinner and Jimmy decided to stay at this loser's place. This loser went downstairs so the LAPD could come up and arrest Jimmy for the incident where this loser got beat up by the tape dispenser for threatening the guy in his office.  The victim even told them it was not Jimmy, but the LAPD hated Jimmy so they arrested him on that crap charge.

This is how I got a tape he made when he was speaking to the FBI.  He claims that he was not an informant, that instead he was conning the FBI, just using them for money.  Come on!  You do not con the FBI.  They have multiple sources and they know when it's bad information.  He told them he would be made.  The tape of him talking to the FBI is public on YouTube for all who wish to hear it and decide for themselves.  

This was years ago.  Since then, this loser was arrested in a case where he had guys fly into LA and get a rental car for them, then go to a ladies home and beat her and tie her up because they thought it was a drug stash.  It was not.  They all went away but this guy did not get much punishment, and nothing at all happened to his son, who was part of the conspiracy. How do you rent a car in your name for guys who are flying in to rob a woman and the FBI knows it but you do not get in trouble?  This guy gets out of prison and runs around town claiming he is a made guy conning the FBI.

Fast forward to last week.  I get a call from a friend and he tells me a story.

There is a movie being made. Some producers have a falling out and one of them wants some money back from the other producer. The producers with the cash in hand say kick rocks to the LA Producer.

Now enter another person who I hold in very low regard.  An aging “talent agent” who represents stars from years gone by that have seen better days.  This guy likes to go around and brag about his “mafia connections.”  He is the worst kind of person, a big coward that sits behind a desk and scares other cowards in the business with his big talk.  I always disliked guys like this agent - he reminds me of every Italian restaurant owner in every small city in America. They all think they are connected.  They talk big but they have no guts to do a thing themselves.  You cannot buy loyalty, you have to earn it.  Unless you are in a crew doing dirt you are nothing.  You are a cash machine for whatever guy you think you are “with.”

He tells the LA producer that he can get the money back for him, because he knows who to call.  He has the same pressed-jeans loser from the Jimmy Caci days call the producer.  Keep in mind this loser is now 70 years old with diabetes and could not fight his way out of a paper bag, even when he was young. He was no match for a tape dispenser. He was never in the same league as Jimmy Caci.  The loser tells the producer that for a cash payment he will get some guys to fly in from Florida and "get the money back for him."

This LA producer wonders if this might be the answer to his problem. Its a Federal crime, first of all, because he is sending guys across state lines to collect a debt.  Then, if they hurt the people, or worse, and it’s connected to you in any way?  It’s conspiracy, or possibly, murder, if someone dies.   Let’s say, best case scenario, they do get money back, or the other producer has a change of heart and pays what he owes after they have a “talk.” Now, these clowns who got involved will own this LA producer forever, as they can blackmail him on top of what he already paid.

Legitimate people that think they can dabble in the life are a joke. You are either a citizen or you are a gangster. You cannot be both.   People never learn and others keep doing the same thing.   I cannot understand why a 70 year old man would want to leave this world still doing the same stupid stuff he did when he was young.  He never learned from his time away.  He cannot see that he is just wasting his life.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

The Birth of WitSec

The first known Cosa Nostra turn coat was Joseph Valachi and the US Government ended up building him his own suite after he flipped in FCI La Tuna in Texas. The fact that he lived helped the Government, but they need to be able to dangle an even greater reward for cooperation.  That reward would be Witness Protection. Also known as Witness Security or WitSec and like any Government program there must be that first person to go through and see if it works.  That person happened to be a man named Pasquale "Paddy" Calabrese, a criminal in Buffalo, New York. Paddy was an up and coming armed robber who knew the guys in the Buffalo Cosa Nostra family.  Paddy wanted to impress Frederico "Freddie Lupo" Randaccio, the feared Underboss of the family headed by Boss Stefano Maggadino.

On December 29, 1964 Paddy and two men walked into the Buffalo City Hall and held up the Treasurer’s office.  They fled (after stealing $16,245 in cash and $284,000 in checks) to a waiting stolen car that they would abandon a couple of miles away. The Buffalo police put out an APB but the men got away. Paddy was hiding out when Steve Cino showed up and told him that Soldiers Pat Natarelli and Freddie Lupo wanted to see him. Paddy had gotten their attention and he was to meet them at Pat’s home the following night.  Paddy arrived the next night and Steve and Pat were already there.  They started telling him that the family had some big scores lined up out of town if he was interested. Freddie Lupo arrived and they started laying them out for him.

A man who used to be with the Buffalo Family but was now living in Los Angeles, had started working with the Family there.  The man was Charles Caci but went by his stage name Bobby Milano.  Bobby Milano was a talented singer who had bad timing because it was now the 1960's and he sang ballads much like Frank Sinatra.  Bobby was close to another former Buffalo Crime Family Associate named Louis Sorgi who just happened to be head of security at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Louis Sorgi had two scores set up at the hotel for Paddy. One he was to rob the wife of Penzoil oil Millionaire Walker Mccune of her jewelry worth over $400,000; the other the Armoured Car Service that picked up the cash at the hotel weekly.  They gave Paddy expense money and he hopped a plane for Los Angeles where Bobby picked him up.  A few days later Steve Cino flew into town. They met Louis Sorgi at the hotel where he showed them the suite that Mrs. Mccune always occupied, and then he showed him a tunnel that the armoured car guard used to pick up the days’ cash receipts.  Paddy wondered how he could get inside the suite and a smiling Bobby Milano showed him a pass key that would open every door in the hotel.

The plan was set, but like all things criminal, something big came up. The Buffalo Police had identified Paddy as one of the City Hall robbers and he was wanted. The Underboss ordered Steve Cino back to Buffalo so he would not be found with Paddy. Paddy waited five days and then he surrendered to the Buffalo Police.

Everything seemed to be fine at this point because there was never a robbery and the Buffalo family went on its business. Paddy sat in lock up facing a lot of time but he thought Randaccio would take care of bail and get him a lawyer.  He sat and he went through a number of interrogations by the Buffalo Police and at that time I am sure they were brutal.  No lawyer and no bail came, so he finally gave up the robbery and the planned robberies.  Once Paddy started talking, the FBI and the US Attorney stepped in and decided to move him, his girlfriend and her two children from a previous marriage.

Paddy and his family became the first to be moved in what would morph into the Wittiness Protection Program.  Once they were away safe they arrested Freddie Lupo, Pat Natarelli, Steve Cino and in Los Angeles they arrested Louis Sorgi and Bobby Milano.  One of the things Bobby had on him at his arrest was the passkey to the Beverly Hills Hotel.

They went to trial and Freddie Lupo, Pat Natarelli, Steve Cino got 20 years for violations of the Hobbs Act and other charges,  Bobby Milano and Louis Sorgi both received 10 years from the judge. Paddy was whisked away into the void that would become WitSec.  The story did not end there because the two children that belonged to Paddy’s now wife had a father who wanted to see them.  He tried everything, going to the police, the FBI everyone but he all he got was stone-walled. He finally retained a lawyer and sued the Government.  He tried for many years with the Buffalo family keeping a watchful eye on his progress.

This would become the basis for the book Hide in Plain Sight and later a movie directed by James Caan by the same name.  Years later Jimmy Caci would tell me the story because he hated James Caan because he used the Caci name as the informant in the film.  They were so pissed that Bobby went and spoke to Gene Gotti about it because James Caan supposedly was connected to Andrew Russo in the Colombo Family.  The Mob had many problems at this time and this one fell by the wayside.

Jimmy, Bobby and Stevie are all gone.  The Buffalo guys Freddie Lupo, Pat Natarelli are gone.   Paddy Calabrese the first man in WitSec passed away on October 13 2005 where he had been a Private Investigator.

LA and New Orleans - Mafia News

Los Angeles and New Orleans have Mafia news this week.  Last week the Los Angeles County Sheriff arrested Joe Isgro, music & movie producer and Shylock. He was being held on a no bail hold in the Van Nuys jail, which was strange because why not men's central?  Some say it was for running a gambling ring, but time will tell when he has his court date.


I will give you a little background on Joe Isgro.  He has been in the record business for a long time.  He was close to Joey Piney Armone who handled it for the Gambino Family. He was an independent record promoter and he worked on some really big albums like Michael Jackson in his glory days.  He would send his people out to radio stations and make sure his artist got airplay.  How he did that is where he almost ran into trouble.  The Government tried to make a case against him in the late 80's saying that he was involved in Payola.  They said he paid station managers and others to get his artists songs on rotation for a lot of airplay.  The case fell apart because the judge said the Government conduct was outrageous. Brian Ross from NBC news claimed to have followed Joe Isgro to the Helmsley Palace Hotel in New York where he had the Presidential Suite and had meetings with John Gotti and Joey Piney Armone. Joe would claim that it never happened.  I do know that Joe used to meet Joe Dente (Genovese Family) at Nicky Blairs on Sunset Blvd.  Joe Dente used to conduct business out of a booth there and Joe was with him a lot. I met Joe at a house in the Valley off Balboa Blvd and he had some questionable people around him.  Uncle Tony, Valentino and Anthony Gambino worked there.  One time he
didn't like a message I was relaying to him from Jimmy Caci (LA Capo) and he jumped up from behind his desk and said,  "I'm a wiseguy, so he cant talk to me that way."   I went back to his Raging Bull records office on Ventura Blvd with Louie Gelfuso (LA Capo) and we all bullshitted for an hour. Joe's luck ran out in September of 2000 when he was sentenced to 50 months in Federal Prison for his Beverly Hills Shylock operation. He is now 66 years old and who knows what this new case will bring.

New Orleans, the Big Easy is the birth place of the American Mafia and was once ruled by one man for decades.  Carlos Marcello ran his family with an iron fist but he did not induct enough people into the family to insure its continued survival after he was locked away. There must still be people down there who operate because the Feds indicted two men for driving around in an assassins van.  This is what went down: the New Orleans police were on routine patrol when their automatic license plate scanner detected a stolen plate on a van.  They pulled over the van and there were two men inside Joseph Gagliano Jr and Dominick Gullo.  Also in the van were two cut down dining room chairs bolted to the floor. They also found a 22cal rifle and a suppressor and 8 inches of cannon fuse.  A scope for the rifle was found in a side panel in the van and it was equipped with custom sliding windows on the side and the rear perfectly in lined with the cut down chairs.This made for a perfect firing position.  In other words, this was a van custom outfitted for murder.

Who were the two guys in the murder van?  Joseph Gagliano is the son of Frank Gagliano, also known as Fat Frank, the underboss of the New Orleans Mafia Family.  Fat Frank passed away in 2006 and the boss of the family Anthony Carollo passed away in 2007.  The FBI and others continue to watch what is left of the organization, but little is known about the membership. Joseph Gagliano once worked with John Vaccaro, an LA Family Soldier in Jimmy Caci's crew. They put together teams of card cheats that had inside help to cheat Louisiana Casino's out of more than 500k!  John Vaccaro was from New Orleans and he knew Carlos Marcello well. Joesph Gagliano was also arrested for participating with Joseph Corrozo and John Gammarano, both high ranking Gambinos in a bid to bring Joker Poker Machines to New Orleans.  This case will take a long time to play out but it will be interesting to follow it and see what there is to learn about New Orleans crime families.

More Mobster Politics (Gambinos & Clintons)

This week I’ll talk about another couple of politicos that have come into close contact with some La Cosa Nostra Members.  This week in the tabloids there was a lot of buzz about Tom Sizemore talking about Liz Hurley and Former President Clinton.  That got me thinking about Liz Hurley and her past associations with Colombo Capo Donnie "Shacks" Montemarono.   Donnie Shacks is a high level Capo in the Colombo Family who became close to Carmine Persico during the Joey Gallo war. He went with Carmine instead of the Gallos and he kept in his good graces.  It has been said that he would dress up like women to do hits for the Colombos. The word around Brooklyn is that Donnie is a capable guy who is very hands on when it comes to work.  When John Gotti was planning to murder his Boss Paul Castellano, he sent Angelo Ruggerio to speak with Donnie Shacks.  He was a big deal.

Donnie was later caught up in the concrete case with Ralph Scopo, who controlled a Union and helped control the business.  Donnie was convicted on 13 counts along with Ralph Scopo for running the Concrete Club. It was a "club" set up by the Mafia Commission so they could extort money from anyone using a lot of concrete in New York.  Donnie Shacks was sentenced to 18 years but only served  11 and by 1996 he was living in Beverly Hills California.

I used to hang out in Palm Springs with Jimmy Caci, a Capo in the Los Angeles Family.  Jimmy told me that he ran into Donnie Shacks in Palm Springs while he was on the lam, before he was sent to prison.  Donnie was living with Sonny Bono, who was the Mayor of Palm Springs back then.  Jimmy told me that he even took Donnie out to dinner and later dropped him off at Sonny's home that night.  Sonny would later be elected to represent the 44th Congressional district as their Congressman.  In fact, he would be the only US Congressman to have hit number 1 in the top 100 record charts. Sonny would die in a fatal skiing accident near Lake Tahoe on January 5th 1998 and Donnie Shacks would be at his funeral in Palm Springs.  Jimmy Caci was a real straight shooter and I have no reason to doubt anything he told me.  When Jimmy was up for a Appeal Bond in a Federal Case I drove to Palm Springs and was given a letter from the former Chief Of Palm Springs Police Department on his letterhead attesting to Jimmy's good character.

Sonny's widow Mary Bono stepped into Sonny's seat in the House and was elected 7 more times before being defeated in 2012.  Donnie Shacks was soon living in a Whilshire high rise near UCLA where he would host parties that included a number of College Football players.  The FBI would soon be looking into allegations of a point shaving shaving scheme involving Donnie Shacks and the football players.  They were all cleared but Donnie Shacks was on their radar in LA and he didn't keep a low profile.  

Donnie Shacks would soon act in a movie written and directed by Adam Rifkin and produced by a man named Steve Bing.   The movie was A Night at The Golden Eagle and Donnie played the lead, a man named Tommy who had gotten out of prison. The Movie is okay, watch it if you want to see Donnie's acting chops and he did a good job playing himself. Steve Bing is on a list of donors from the William J Clinton Foundation having donated somewhere between 10-25 Million dollars.  Liz Hurley is also Steve Bing’s former girlfriend and also the mother of his child.  

I attended the premiere of “A Night at The Golden Eagle” on the Paramount Lot off Melrose.  Seated right in front of me was a man named Tommy Gambino and his sister.  I had spoken to and seen Tommy many times visiting his father Rosario "Sal" Gambino at FCI Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor.  Sal Gambino is a Made member of the Sicilian Mafia, a distant cousin of the former Boss Carlo Gambino.  Sal Gambino's brother John Gambino was a Capo in the Gambino Family in New York and both were part of the Pizza Connection Heroin ring.

In 1980 Sal Gambino was arrested for conspiracy to distribute Heroin after the Italian Police busted a shipment of 91 pounds of the drug. He was acquitted in the US but was convicted in Italy and sentenced to 20 years. Then in 1984 Sal Gambino was again arrested and convicted of Heroin related crime and sentenced to 45 years in prison and he has never taken responsibility for his actions.   This is laughable because his relatives sold large amounts of Heroin twice to undercover agents and they made two calls to Sal Gambino referring to him as the Short One and he is short.  When the the Feds took him down two bills from the marked buy money were found in his home.  Sal Gambino is also banned from all Atlantic City Casinos because of his Mafia associations.
Once locked up, Sal Gambino tried everything in the Law Books to get out but he would never admit guilt or take responsibility but he kept trying to get an early Parole.  The Parole Commission recommended that Sal Gambino serve out his full sentence in 1995 because it was likely he was involved in and played a leadership role in the drug ring and Organized Crime.

According to the US Congressional report Sal's Son Tommy Gambino is a Made man in the Los Angeles Mafia Family and maybe Underboss.  I was introduced to Tommy by Jimmy Caci and told he was the same as him.  Sal Gambino set up a meeting between Tommy and I in Beverly Hills and when I was at Joe Isgro's Raging Bull Records, Joe had Anthony Gambino, Tommy's brother, working in the office.  

Tommy was running a payphone business called Progressive Telecom, and guess who is a partner: none other than Colombo Capo Donnie Shacks.  This is where things get good because Tommy Gambino would soon become friends with Roger Clinton, the brother of then-President of the United States.  Tommy Gambino met Roger Clinton in a Beverly Hills Club when he was with introduced by Geno Vanelli, a music industry manager.
Roger Clinton would later tell authorities that he knew that he was meeting Tommy Gambino because his father was seeking parole, but that after meeting him he realized what a close family Tommy Gambino came from.
Tommy Gambino gave Roger Clinton his father’s files and after Roger reviewed them he felt that Sal Gambino had not gotten a fair deal.  Where was it that Roger went to Law School? According to Roger he then agreed to contact the US Parole Commission for Sal Gambino as long as they held nothing back concerning the case. Roger Clinton would later tell investigators that Tommy Gambino told him if he helped get his father out of prison they would take care of him.

Roger made calls to members of the Commission and even had a meeting with one of them on behalf of Sal Gambino.  To be completely fair to Roger, he also sought help for two other prisoners. The FBI wanted to set up a meeting between Roger Clinton and another "Parole Commission Member,"  really an undercover Agent, but the Parole Commission would not cooperate. Roger Clinton and Tommy made a trip to Washington DC in March of 1999 for who knows what.  Roger Clinton was playing Golf with four people in Los Angeles when Tommy Gambino drove up on a golf cart and handed Roger a box with a gold Rolex watch in it.  Roger told the men he was playing with that the man was Tommy Gambino and he was helping his father.  Two of the men were US Air force Intell Officers and they were uncomfortable with what they saw, so they reported what they saw to the FBI.
On September 27, 1999 Tommy Gambino's sister Anna wrote a 50,000 dollar check to Roger Clinton’s company. This money came from Lisa Gambino in Staten Island, New York, and both women frequently received deposits from Antonio Genovese (partners with John Gambino in G&G Concrete in New York).

Roger Clinton would later tell the FBI that money was a loan so he could buy a house and that all he took was existence money.  Sal Gambino would then apply for a pardon from the President in 2000.  The first call Roger made on January 20, 2001 was to Tommy Gambino's cell phone, and that was the day his brother was no longer President and Sal Gambino had gotten no pardon.
Sal Gambino was paroled to an Immigrant Detention Center in 2006, and he was deported to Rome, Italy on May 23rd 2009.

Anyone who wants to read more should read United States Congressional Serial Set, No. 14778, House Report No. 454 and The Goodfella Tapes Book about the John Stanfa War against Joey Merlino for control of the Philly Mob.  There is a great part of Tommy Gambino speaking to John Stanfa.

Check out my video of Donnie and friends with Liz Hurley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WHq0bBsFsc